In The Purposeful Primitive Marty Gallagher presents his strength and conditioning philosophy with the stories of notable strength and endurance athletes with his own experiences as a world champion powerlifter and coach.

While focusing on strength, Marty also recognizes the importance of cardiovascular conditioning and diet. He describes simple programs that have proven effective for both world class athletes and couch potatoes getting into shape. This book deserves a place in the library of all serious fitness enthusiasts, athletes, and coaches.

I competed in the Windsor Highland Games yesterday. It was part of a free community fair rather than a Scottish or Celtic festival. There was a Classic Rock band and games for the kids, but only one food vendor. The City of Windsor is planning to do it again next year. It has good potential.

I managed a new personal record of 15' in the Sheaf Toss and did OK in the other events. I need more practice.

We drove down to Albuquerque for the Rio Grande Valley Celtic Festival and Highland Games <http://www.celtfestabq.com/> last weekend. We arrived early enough Friday for some shopping and dinner in Old Town. Saturday turned out surprizingly cool and quite windy, but Sunday was beautiful, as I expected for New Mexico in May. The Balloon Fiesta Park provides an outstanding venue for this type of event, plenty of room, flat fields, and good parking.

Competition was keen, with field records dropping right and left. Duncan McCallum and Hunter Fobare swapped lead in the A class all day Saturday, with Hunter coming out on top. My throwing was mixed, with a personal record in the Braemar Stone, a new low in the Light Weight for Distance, and everything else about what I'd expect.

Mark Lutz is an outstanding trainer and writer. His Programming Python is the most most comprehensive Python text that I've found, weighing in at 1552 pages. It's not just long though, The detailed examples solving many real world problems in both desktop and server programming make it ideal for those who learn best by seeing how things are done.

I competed in the Cottonwood Highland Games in Holladay, UT yesterday. It was fun, even with the authentic Scottish liquid sunshine. I finished 4th of 4 in the Masters, but did manage PRs in both the Heavy and Light Weight for Distance events.

Following the traditional Heavy Athletics events was a Strongman competition consisting of a medley race with two lines 50 feet apart and an Atlas Stone, a water filled keg and barrel behind one of the lines. The objective was to carry each implement and put it down on the far side of the opposing line, sprinting back to the starting point to fetch the next.

The introduction to strongman events was interesting, though I have to admit that I didn't make it to the sprint. The Atlas Stone was wet and while I got it to chest height, I couldn't get it on up to my shoulder and didn't think I could carry it 50 feet in my arms, so I quit there. Maybe next time.

I met a great new group of throwers. I might just head back that way for the Utah Scot Fest next month.